Adia Victoria: Beyond The Bloodhounds

Adia Victoria Beyond The Bloodhounds (Canvasback) 3.5 out of 5 stars “I don’t know nothing about Southern belles, but I can tell you something about Southern hell,” Adia Victoria sings on “Stuck In The South,” one of a dozen songs that comprise her highly-anticipated debut Beyond The Bloodhounds. On Bloodhounds, Victoria, a South Carolina native who now resides in Nashville, channels the mix of anger, angst, and resentment she felt growing up as the daughter of Seventh Day Adventist parents in a region with which she felt entirely disconnected. Victoria, who has opened for everyone from Deer Tick to Those Darlins, establishes a presiding sense of isolation from the very beginning of her record, which she opens with a haunting a capella snippet of Ray Charles’ “Lonely Avenue.” From there, the 29 year-old singer/guitarist infuses her despairing tales with an indelible mix of prickly electric blues (“Head Rot”), gothic garage-rock (“Dead Eyes”), introspective R&B (“Mortimer’s Blues”) and darkly-shaded country (“Mexico Blues”). Victoria is a folkie dressed up as a punk, performing with a ferocity that transforms her plaintive, neo-gothic narratives into something resembling anthems. On Bloodhounds, the harder Victoria works to reckon with the dark Southern demons of her youth,…